Not Left Behind
by 1upninja
Summary: What if, when Logan had called Laura to the school she had still been staying with Kiden and the NYX gang, what if Kiden had decided to go with her? Eventual Laura/Kiden
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Very first Fan Fiction so please bear with me, and while I would love to be reviewed please don't flame at me I'm new.**

Kiden Nixon woke to the sound of a phone ringing in the other room, she turned and looked at her clock sitting on the nightstand, '_Jesus fukin, 5 am is real_.' Groaning loudly she rolled out of her bed to go and yell at Bobby, the only one living in the apartment she knew of with a cell phone, for leaving his ringer on. _'It's just plain inconsiderate.'_ Once in the living room she saw that it wasn't Bobby but Laura with a phone to her ear. It had taken a fair amount of coaxing, but she had finally convinced the other girl to tell them what her name was. Kiden paused in the door way to listen to her conversation, knowing Laura knew she was there.

"You might as well say hello kid, I can hear you breathing." The voice on the other end was rough and obviously a man, but the tone was caring, this made Kiden's eyebrows furrow, Laura had never talked about her family; then again, Laura hardly ever talked at all.

"I miss them." Laura had her back turned to Kiden but she could hear the hurt in the other girl's voice. This made Kiden nervous, Laura never let any type of emotion through, she was tough and almost robotic in the way she spoke, and probably thought about things, but just in those three words Kiden heard the pain. There was no outward sign of it, no slumping of her shoulders or tense way she stood, just Laura's perfect poster. If she could be hurting so much and show so little she must have that pain always, Kiden flashed back to meeting Laura for the first time, half naked and bleeding from self inflicted wounds, and wanted to cry if nothing else then for the other girl who wouldn't.

"I know you do, but they aren't there anymore."

"She was my only friend." Kiden wanted to rush to the other girl, but couldn't seem to figure out how to move her feet. Didn't Laura know that she was her friend too, that she was her family now?

"I know she was Laura, I know she was. But she's gone now, and you being there won't bring her back." The man on the line paused for a second and Kiden listened harder for his gruff voice. "Look you're breaking my heart, but I didn't call to talk about that. You have to come back."

"No!" Laura said a little too fast, who was this guy Kiden wondered. He didn't seem like a pimp, he was talking to Laura more like a father would, did Laura even have a father?

"You and I had a deal and I kept my end of it. I didn't tell anyone I knew you. I even let you slash me across the face, something I don't remember agreeing to, but whatever. And you…"

"I tried!" Laura interrupted loudly as she lowered her head and looked at the ground. Kiden was getting more and more curious about this mystery caller.

"No you didn't. No more Alien costumes, no more growling, and no more BS! You have to come back and try it for real this time."

"They will find me there. They found me once before." Laura had turned her body slightly, and Kiden saw that she had her eyes closed. She looked pained, whoever had found her before was bad, bad enough to cause stoic quiet Laura to argue about something.

"You're probably right. But do you think Weapon X will ever stop looking for me? Not a chance! But that doesn't matter now. The world just got a whole lot scarier and the kids at this school need you." '_School? Ok, what?'_

"But Logan…"

"And more importantly you need them! The only chance you have is here Laura. If you don't come back, you're already dead. Trust me, just come." But Laura didn't let him finish and click the phone off, then with a _snickt_ popped one of her claws and sliced it in half before throwing the pieces out the window.

"So you're just gonna leave us?" Kiden asked as she stepped out of the shadows and towards Laura's turned back. "What about all that we've been through? You're wanted here too Laura, we're your friends too."

Laura turned and looked at the other girl, her bright green eyes catching the barely there sun light, she crossed her arms under her chest and took a deep breath, smelling the rain that would soon be upon them, but not saying a word. Not quite knowing how.

"Who was that guy?" Kiden asked softly, moving farther into the room, closer to Laura and crossing her arms as well. "He said something about a school, what kind of school?"

"A school for mutants, Xavier's school." Kiden's eyes widened slightly in shock, she had heard of the school, what mutant hadn't, it was where the X-Men lived. "The man was Wolverine, he."Laura paused and her brow furrowed slightly, before breathing out heavily. "He is complicated."

"So, are you going?" Kiden asked again, looking Laura in the eyes, it was quiet for a moment as the two stared at each other, unblinking, Kiden looked away first and lowered her eyes to the ground. "I'll miss you when you're gone." Kiden said softly and started to back away, when had they gotten so close? Laura's eyes softened, only for a second then she reached out to the other girl but stopping herself before she could touch her, as if scared she would hurt her.

"Then come with me." Laura's voice was low, soft and wavered slightly as she spoke, she was scared of the possibility of rejection and making herself vulnerable, but went on anyway despite it. "It is a mutant school and you are a mutant so I do not see a problem with adding another, "her eyes darted to the other door, thinking of Bobby, little Bro, and Tatiana. "Or four other mutants to their number would make much of a difference. It would be a safe place." Kiden smiled softly, she had never heard Laura talk so much before in one sitting and wanted to hug the other girl, but restrained herself.

"Then we should talk to the others."

* * *

A few hours had passed before the others had woken up and the discussion was had, and while Bobby wanted the best for his little brother he pointed out that the X-Men are constantly getting attacked and didn't want to be put in more danger than necessary. Tatiana had been more on the fence about it, but after Bobby had decided he wanted to stay, she decided that she was going to stay too, while it would take away their money problems, she didn't like the idea of fighting for her life on a possible daily basis. It had never been a question for Kiden though, Laura was going, and for some reason she couldn't let the other girl walk away from her possibly forever. She had to be with her, and that was final.

The girls packed in silence, well Kiden packed Laura pulled a duffle bag out from under her bed and threw out a clean pair of clothes and quickly undressed and shoved the dirty ones in zipping it up fast as if trying to hide something all before putting her new clothes on. Laura pulled on her black jeans and green tank top, lased up her black combat boots and threw on a slightly to large leather jacket over the top while running her fingers through her long black hair. Kiden suddenly felt inadequate next to the other girl, but said nothing as she shoved all her clothes in her backpack and pulled on her own boots, wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a long sleeved grey shirt, she stood and hauled her backpack over one shoulder while wrapping a rainbow scarf around her neck.

Saying their goodbyes the two girls made their way to the bus stop, Kiden had no idea where they were going, but as Laura seemed to she just kept quiet and followed her. The bus ride wasn't as long as she thought it would be and Laura stood and made her way off the bus Kiden almost didn't follow her. They walked in silence, Kiden keeping close to Laura the whole way so she wouldn't lose her, but when they rounded a corner and saw the mansion for the first time Kiden couldn't help but stop and gasp. She had never seem a house that big before, and wondered briefly how many other mutants lived there.

"Aren't you coming?" Laura called from a ways in front of her. Running to catch up Kiden noticed a large man leaning up against the open gate. The girls made their way up to him and Kiden immediately recognized the man and the famous Wolverine, he eyed Kiden for a second before turning to Laura.

"Hey kid, I'm glad you came." He said in his rough voice that Kiden matched to that of the man on the phone as he patted Laura on the back with a grin. She just nodded and adjusted the strap of her duffle on her shoulder. "Who's the tagalong?"

"I'm Kiden Nixon, Laura was staying with me when she got your call this morning, invited me to come along." Kiden extended her hand and Wolverine shook it with a grin, his eyes shifting to Laura who was looking at her shoes with a blank expression.

"Well then, we had better go an' talk to Cyke, get you two settled in and meet the other kids." Logan lead the way inside and up a set of stairs, not stopping to knock on the door that read 'Scott Summers Headmaster' and slamming it open leading the girls inside.

"Hello Logan, what can I do for you today?" Scott was filing some paper work and hadn't bothered to look up at the sudden intrusion, knowing it was Logan immediately. Finishing his sentence and signing his name at the bottom he raised his head and saw that it wasn't just Logan in his office but two young girls as well, one of them being Laura Kinney.

"Got some new recruits that need a room." Logan said roughly as he crossed his large arms over his chest and scowled at the other man. "Not gonna be a problem is it?"

"Of course not Logan, pleasure to see you again Laura." Then Cyclops turned to the new girl who looked slightly star struck as she looked at him, Kiden couldn't believe she was standing in the same room as THE Wolverine and the leader of the X-Men himself, her favorite X-Man, Cyclops, and now he was looking at her and one side of his mouth quirked up and she tried to look like she didn't care as much. "And what would your name be?"

"This is Kiden Nixon, she was roomin with the kid till now, decided to come along." Logan said with a small scowl on his face, this girl had been looking after his clone when he had been unable to, he wouldn't say it out loud, but he was more than a little grateful to the girl and he would look out for her in any way he could.

"And what's your power Miss Nixon?" Cyclops said as he pulled two forms from his desk and began filling in the information he knew on Laura on one and paused over the other after he wrote Kiden's name on the other.

"I sorta stop time, but as soon as a touch someone I lose it and whoever I touch gets, kinda hurt." Kiden was blushing slightly, not over her power, she thought that was awesome, but over how she had explained it, words had never been one of her strong suits and she really wanted to make a good impression on these people. They were basically celebrities.

"Interesting." Was all Cyclops said as he wrote down what she said, pausing for a moment he looked back up at her. "Can you take others with you when you stop time?"

"Yeah, as long as I'm touching them before I activate it and don't let go of them." Cyclops made a small noise of understanding and Kiden heard Logan shift behind them.

"Well I'm sorry to say that there are no open rooms where the two of you could stay together, but I do have some that only have one girl in them and they are close to each other. Miss Kinney, you will be rooming with Sooraya Qadir, also called Dust, and Miss Nixon, you will be rooming with Cessily Kincaid, also called Mercury." Cyclops got up and handed a scrap of paper to both Laura and Kiden with their room number on it then turned back to Logan as he leaned against his desk. "Logan, you should take the girls down to the rec. and introduce them to the other kids, I know that most of them go down there at this time of day." Scott smiled to himself, Logan tended to avoid the kids, now that Laura was here he was have to spend at least a little time with them to check in on his clone. Logan grunted his response and turned, ushering the girls out of the room before him he shoot a glare at Scott before following them out.

Logan lead the girls down the stair case that he had lead them up before and down a hallway until a room opened up to the side of them. Kiden saw a boy with dark hair in Red and white spandex who was glowing green and a girls with blue hair and metal gloves who looked like they were about to get into a fight, that is until Wolverine spoke and they all looked at him like they were to afraid to do anything else.

"Am I interrupting something?" All eyes were now on the Logan, though they would shift to stare at Laura or Kiden briefly before returning to the main threat in the room, one could never really tell what Wolverine was going to do. "No? Good. This is Laura, my sister." Logan paused and put a hand on Laura's shoulder. "She's a genetic clone created from my DNA and…" Logan paused again and took a deep breath while Kiden stored that little bit of information for later, she would talk to Laura after they settled in. "You know what? It doesn't matter. The bottom line is she has my claws, and yes, she could kill you if she wanted. So don't make her want to." Kiden grimaced inwardly, that was possibly the worst introduction she had ever heard, especially if Laura had plans to make friends anytime soon. "This is Kiden, I've already forgot what she can do, something about time." Kiden closed her eyes and took a breath before opening them again, this guy really had no idea about teenagers. "Consider yourselves introduced."

Then he just walked off, leaving the girls and the room, more than a little stunned. Knowing Laura wouldn't do anything, Kiden decided to step up.

"Hi, um, I'm Kiden, uh which of you is Cessily?"

"Oh, that's me, Hi!" One of the girls, who seemed way to perky, who was silver with bright red hair and no pupils popped up and seemed to remember her manners. "Is one of you my new roommate?" She asked, almost frightfully as she looked at Laura, who seemed to have not taken her eyes off the previously glowing black haired boy.

"Yeah, I am, and which of you guys is Sooraya?" An Girl in a full on burqua stepped forward and greeted them politely. Well, this should be interesting for Laura.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So I realized that for the last chapter I didn't do the 'I own nothing' thing, well I own nothing and some of the dialogue is from Academy X, so I own that even less. Sorry if you're disappointed that I'm not Stan Lee or something. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to all the people who take the time to read this, you are all my heroes. Got to say the review that I got totally made my day, so a big thanks to Kairan1979, my first reviewer ever. And if anyone else could take the time to review also, maybe tell me what you think, that would be awesome too. Ninja out.**

"Can't I kill him just a little?" The girl with blue hair said to a black boy who was holding her back, though Kiden was sure if she had wanted to the blue haired girl could have broken free of him.

"Let it go Nori, he's not worth it." The boy said, _'boyfriend maybe.'_ Kiden thought to herself, but seeing as no one was introducing themselves she didn't feel all that bad about dubbing him boyfriend. Then dark haired boy in red and white spandex, who 'Nori' blue head wants to kill, only a little, spoke up.

"You wish gloves." Dude was smirking like that was the cleverest line ever. What a room a genius's she had walked into.

"Come on guys. I've got a better way to blow off steam." Boyfriend of Blue head said and everyone started out of the room. It's seems Laura and Kiden had been all but forgotten, though Laura still had her eyes on mister genius comeback in spandex.

"I'll see you later tough guy." Nori called after him as he started walking away.

"Looking forward to it." Spandex boy called back, and then as he walked past the door and by Laura he sneered at her. "What are you looking at, clone?" Kiden had never heard the word sound that way before, like it was the worst thing in the world, like it made you less than human even though no one in the room was technically human anyway.

"Back off, pretty boy." Kiden said from next to Laura as she just put her head down, Kiden had seen how Laura flinched at the name, barely a move, but there if you where paying attention. The name affected her, and Kiden wouldn't let anyone hurt Laura if she could help it, it just didn't sit right with her.

"Whatever nooby." He just smiled haughtily and full on swaggered out of the room with the rest of the kids, _'what an ass.' _ Kiden already didn't like him. Then she surveyed to room, Cessily and Sooraya had stayed behind and where waiting to be acknowledged.

"Sorry about Julian, he's not as bad once you get to know him." Cessily said, smiling as she too made her way out of the room with Sooraya following close behind. Julian must be mister douche spandex pants, Kiden smiled to herself, dude had a girl's name, must be why he compensates so much. "Come on, we'll show you to your rooms, they're right next to each other."

Kiden looked over to Laura who was blank faced but following Cessily's lead. Kiden felt a pang in her chest at Laura's emotionless face, she couldn't quiet place it but she knew that the other girl was hurting. She would talk to her about it later.

The place smelled the same to Laura, the old wood and shampooed carpet, even though she knew it to be different than the last time she was here. The smell of power and fear floating around her was mixed with the familiar smell of arrogance and teenage hormones, the combination of which gave Xavier's school its distinct smell. The group of girls had walked back up the stair case that Logan had lead them up when they first arrived, but instead of taking a left down what Laura assumed was the boys wing, they took a right. It smelled much better down this way then even looking down the boy's hallway. The sound of arguing came from an office with a plaque on the door, reading Emma Frost: Headmistress.

"Logan Vouches for her." Laura knew that to be Cyclops, and she also knew immediately that they were talking about her. Laura's eyes cut to the other three girls and saw that they had slowed outside the door; Kiden was furrowing her brow and looking at the floor. Laura didn't know why but it pained her to know that soon the other girl wound know things about her past, about what she really was. Nothing would be the same once she knew.

"That doesn't exactly help your case, Scott. With everything that he's done recently, I don't think he should be around the kids, either." That was Emma Frost, she was a telepath and had been trying to get into Laura's head since the second she walked on the grounds. Miss Frost had been more, gentle, about it than anyone else ever had, so Laura had let her in, knowing if she gave to much of a fight it would just make things worse. Apparently she hadn't liked what she had found.

"Logan is an X-Man, Emma. He's saved both our lives time and time again. He vouches for her. Just like Professor Xavier vouched for you. That's good enough for me." Kiden was looking at Laura now, still with a slight furrow in her brow and a touch of a downward turn to her lips. Kiden knew that Laura had been on the streets before, that she had sold her body to men who liked pain, but she didn't know what she could have done that had the headmistress wanting her thrown out not even an hour after they had arrived. Laura hoped it stayed that way.

"Scott, the children have enough dangers to them outside the walls of this school. The last thing we need to do is bring more inside." Laura saw that the other two girls, Cessily and Sooraya, where looking at her now as well, almost visibly remembering Wolverines introduction, Claws that she could kill you with, don't make her want to.

"Emma that's enough! X-23 stays. End of discussion." Suddenly Cyclops was at the door in front of them. He immediately looked to Laura, and sighed. "You're welcome here Laura, at this point I don't think Logan would be willing to let you leave anyway." He nodded to the other girls and made his way down the hall. There was silence then, Laura was trying to think of a way to get the group moving again, and possibly make them forget what had just happened, and as it was since she had meet the girl, Kiden came to her rescue.

"So, how about those rooms; can't be too far." Kiden was holding one strap of her bag against her shoulder and the other hand was on her neck rubbing her short dirty blonde hair, she was nervous and her eyes kept darting to Laura's, she wanted to know what that had been all about, but she knew Laura wouldn't talk about it now, if ever, and she wasn't about to pressure the other girl. Laura had had enough people making her do things she didn't want to.

"Right, sorry." Cessily is smiling at the two new girls but keeps her eyes focused on Kiden, Laura thinks the silver girl is thankful to have gotten her as a roommate. "They're just this way."

"So what's your story?" Kiden asked when she and Cessily had broken off from Laura and Sooraya to unpack and settle in. Cessily was just sitting on her bed watching the new girl, but Kiden thought she seemed nice enough, if a little bit to perky.

"Well, one day my skin melted off and I melted into a puddle of liquid mercury. Took me a couple hours to figure out how to reform myself into a human shape, freaked my parents out, and now I live here." Cessily had said it all in one breath and had looked Kiden in the eye the entire time. Kiden knew there was more to it than just that, but it wasn't like she was going to tell her whole story either, seeing the decomposing ghost of your fathers who talks to you is a bit on the weird side, even for a mutant. "What about you? What about that other girl, Wolverine's Clone?"

"Well first of all her name is Laura, she's not just some, _thing._" Kiden didn't like the way everyone kept saying clone, it didn't make her any less of a person. "Um, one day at my old school I got into this fight with this stupid guy. He was part of a gang and it was a long standing mutual hatred of each other. The day before, I had kind of made a fool of him in public. So he somehow managed to get a gun into school. Asshole probably paid off one of the security guards. Anyway, he pulled it in the hallway; I freaked out, obviously, and stopped time. I got out of the way of the bullet and just touched the guys arm. Everything started back up again after that, dudes arm was broken where I had touched him and my teacher, who was on her way to stop the fighting, was bleeding out on the floor. Bullet got her in the gut. So then I just ran, stayed in time stop for about 4 months and walked between the rain drops."

"Wow, the biggest thing to happen at my old school was Ashley Williams losing her virginity on prom night." Kiden just snorted at that.

"I meet Laura about 2 months ago, we were both kind of in a bad place, I helped her out of hers and she helped me with mine. We, along three others who didn't want to come with us here, all lived together in a two bedroom apartment up until this morning." She was not going to say anything about how she had met Laura, if she wanted to tell people what she had been doing on the streets than that was her business. "She mostly keeps to herself, and before The Wolverine said it to everyone I had no idea that they were related."

"Well, I'll leave you to it. I'm going to go find the others. Welcome to Xavier's." And with that Cessily was gone, shut the door behind her and footsteps quietly making their way down the hall until they were gone. Kiden decided it was time to check on Laura. Kiden put her backpack underneath her bed and made her way to the other girl's room. Knocking quietly and finding Laura opening it barely a second later.

"Hey, thought I'd see how you were doing." Laura opened the door more and Kiden saw it was set up just as her own was, the other girls roommate had also made herself scarce, Kiden could only imagine how their conversation had gone. "So what's your roomy like? Mine's kinda perky."

"Sooraya was extremely polite and excused herself after showing me the room, though when I commented that she was a Sunni she said she hadn't realized that I could speak." Kiden made a face a that and Laura went back to arranging her things in her closet. Her duffel was sitting open on her bed and Kiden saw it had a small stack of papers in it and a few wads of large bills. Laura zipped it up and put in gently in the back of her closet, almost like she was handling something precious.

"You never told me you were related to the Wolverine." Kiden said softly, deciding it was best to just jump in, Laura didn't do subtle.

"We are not related. I was cloned from his stolen DNA and implanted in the scientist who restored it." Laura had not turned from the closet, even though it was closed and she was just staring at the wood grain of the door, as if looking for answers there. Laura just didn't know how to deal with Kiden knowing these types of things about her. Laura wanted Kiden to think she was good, that her street walker days were the worst thing about her life, when really they hardly made the list.

"Well that sort of makes him your dad. Is the Scientist that, um, made you, the same one in your locket? I thought that was your mom." Kiden saw Laura tense ever so slightly, and if Laura had been wearing her jacket she wouldn't have. It was just the slightest tension of the muscles in Laura's back that gave her away. Laura probably hadn't known Kiden had seen what was inside the locket that Laura wore so religiously.

"Yes, her name was Sarah Kinney, and she was my mother." Kiden made not of the past tense way Laura had mentioned the woman. Then Laura suddenly looked incredibly sad, her head was drooped, her eyes were shut tight, and her hands were balled into fists so tight that it had to have hurt the other girl, and Kiden knew that something terrible must have happened to the girl's mother. If Kiden was to leave the room right now she knew the other girl would cut herself. Kiden couldn't allow that to happen, not ever again if she could help it.

"Laura, it's okay, you don't have to talk about her." Kiden moved beside the other girl and turned her slightly so they were facing each other. "You don't have to explain yourself to me Laura; I'll always be on your side." The Kiden pulled the other girl into her arms and hugged her, so gently and with so much care that Laura thought herself made of glass in Kiden's mind.

It took a moment, but then Laura was hugging her back. Laura had her arms wrapped around the other girls waist and Kiden had her arms around Laura's shoulders. Then Laura's head dropped onto Kiden shoulder and Kiden couldn't help think how right it felt. How at this moment she felt whole. Laura would tell her about her past when she was ready to, and Kiden would be there to help her.

And Laura felt safe; safe in arms that were weaker than her own and against a girl just as small as she felt. She shouldn't have, Laura had never felt safe a day in her life, but there in Kiden's arms; it was as if everything else had melted away.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I own nothing. Anyway, so I've ramped up the angst level in this chapter just as a warning to the angst sensitive. And for the Hellix fans, I'm not that big a fan of Hellion in the Academy X books, I just don't thinks he's good enough for our girl, so while I try to keep characters as canon as I can, I really think it's in canon for him to be an ass until he loses his hands. Not that I'm knocking the Hellix stories that are out there, I've read them and love them, it just takes time for Julian being less an ass and I don't think Kiden would have given him enough time to get to that point around her baby. Just my opinion.**

"The food has to be around here somewhere." Kiden had looped one of her arms through Laura's and the girls were making their way through the mansion looking for the cafeteria. "This place is just so damn big, we might as well go out back and find a dumpster to dive."

"It is not that far, I can smell it." Laura started pulling Kiden in the opposite direction that they had been going and by a few turns they had made it to the cafeteria.

"So you were just letting me pull you along to nowhere when you could have found the food in an instant?" Kiden could have been annoyed at that, but mostly she thought it was just cute. It showed that Laura just wanted to be around to blonde girl, that she was content to wonder around aimlessly just to spend time with her.

"You seemed so determined to find it without asking directions." Laura had suggested stopping at Cyclops office when they had managed to get turned around twice and somehow ended up there, but Kiden had scoffed at the idea, saying only pansies and old women asked for directions. "I didn't really ask for directions though, is that still okay?" Laura seemed genuinely concerned that she had done something wrong, Kiden just smiled at her.

"Yes, of course it's still okay. Let's get so grub." The girls made their way through the line and got their food, then looking out into the cafeteria, Kiden groaned. "Oh my god, this is so high school."

"I never attended high school." The way Laura said it implied the Kiden should explain what she had meant, though she tucked away that bite of knowledge for later. Kiden was learning new things about the other girl left and right today.

"Well everyone is sitting in groups of cliques and we're new and don't have a clique so any one group we sit with, we'll be outsiders and probably the center of attention." All the groups seemed to be dressed in similarly colored out fits. Kiden spotted Julian in his red and white spandex outfit seated by other kids with Cessily and Sooraya, though she was in her Burqua, in red and white spandex outfits. Then at another table was Nori blue head and Boyfriend sitting with a bunch of kids in yellow and white spandex outfits, one of which had gold skin, Kiden thought it clashed a little. There were other groups in different colored spandex outfits also, but Kiden didn't know any of their names, nor had she made any up, so they didn't really matter that much to her.

"Everyone is sitting with their squad." Laura turned and saw Beast holding a tray of food in one hand and 2 pieces of paper in another. Laura looked at Kiden out of the side of her eye and noticed to girl looked a little star struck. Beast must have noticed also, but carried on, he was probably used to being stared at. "Here we have a squad system for physical training, everyone is mingled together for regular classes like Math, Science, and English, but for team training in the Danger Room and things like field day competitions, everyone has their own assigned squad, though that may be changing soon, with how many kids are leaving after M-Day." Beast paused, as if lost in thought of the tragedy of M-Day, then seemed to remember he had a purpose talking with them. "Oh, these are for you, your class schedules, I know it may seem a little strange, but finishing high school is still an important thing. I'll see you both in Chemistry tomorrow, don't be late."

"Man, I suck at chemistry; Mr. McCoy is going to think I'm an idiot."

"I can tutor you, I have my G.E.D. already and am fairly certain that the only reason they want me to comply with doing classes again is for the social aspect that the classroom offers." Laura had technically gotten her G.E.D. when she was 14, only weeks before her escape from the facility, but a refresher would be fine with her.

"I thought you said you never went to high school?"

"That's right." Kiden looked confused, but Laura didn't offer anything else, so she figured they would talk about it at some point in the future. Just another thing to add to the list of mysteries that was Laura.

"Hey you guys." Cessily was standing up in her seat and waving the new girls over to her table. Kiden made eye contact with Laura for a second and when she didn't argue Kiden lead the way over to her roommates table. They sat down and Cessily smiled at them. "Did you guys find the place ok? I know I got turned around my first day here."

"Just followed Laura's nose, it wasn't a problem at all." Kiden elbowed Laura softly and smiled at her, but Laura was just looking down at her salad spearing tomatoes and lettuce.

"Oh my god, where are my manners you guys don't know any ones names. Okay well obviously there's me and Sooraya, this is Santo." Cessily put her hand on the shoulder of a giant looking boy who seemed to be made of stone, Kiden couldn't help but wonder if he would break under a good poking in her time stop like everyone else. "This is Kevin, Brian just left, and he's Julian." Kevin was a boy in all black with a floor length trench coat and even black gloves, Kiden thought his mutation must have something to do with his skin as he was covering most of it, and Julian just looked smug as he eyed Laura from across the table like he was looking for a vulnerability he could exploit. Kiden just nodded at them, trying to look to cool to be there.

"I'm Kiden." She picked up her ham sandwich and took a bit before adding. "So this is really a school too? I thought it was mostly like a training ground for future X-men."

"Well that's true, but all the X-men at least have a high school diploma." Wolverine was suddenly behind them. His voice was gruff and he was scowling like he had been the first time Kiden had meet him. Kiden wondered if that was just the way his face looked all the time. Then he put a hand on Laura's shoulder and with a softer tone he asked. "I need to speak with you for a second, kid." Laura got up silently and the two walked off to a corner and spoke quietly, Kiden wanted desperately to know what was being said.

"So you lived with Wolverine's clone, is she anything like him? Does she smoke and drink a lot? Does she smell really bad?" This was Julian, and Kiden looked back at the table slowly and glared at the boy. "Oh, I bet she says 'Bub' a lot." Then the boy laughed at his own joke, as if he was the funniest person ever and just couldn't stand it.

"Ok, Laura, is more than just Wolverine's clone, just like I'm sure you're more than just a judgmental dick." At this Julian looked less smug, and like he was trying to decide if that had really been an insult. "And I've lived with Laura for awhile, and no, she doesn't do any of those things."

"Well I'm just saying we need a little diversity in the powers around here, I mean, why bring in a clone, we already have one Wolverine why would we need the knock off." Julian looked pleased with himself at that one, and Kiden decided that this boy must have come from a well to do family, only people with money thought about things that way. Kiden had no idea what to say to that, she was angry and wanted to punch the boy, but she was sure that would be frowned upon.

"Actually Keller," And Wolverine was back, Kiden whipped around, Laura was beside the intimidating man, and sat back down in front of her salad, not looking at anyone. She had defiantly heard what he had said, Kiden felt a pang in her chest. "Some would say that, that compared to X here, I'm last year's model. And any version of me, is better than you, so watch your mouth." Wolverine made eye contact with Kiden for a second before patting Laura on the shoulder. "Remember what I said X." Then he was gone.

"So you need Big Daddy Wolvie to fight your battles for you, do you little clone? I bet you're worthless in the field. Why else wouldn't you have come here sooner? He must be ashamed of you if he thinks you can't handle yourself."

Kiden couldn't believe what she was hearing, she wanted to beat this guys brain in. what gave him the right to judge people this way? He didn't know where they came from or what they had been through. Laura was tense beside her thinking about how the only way Wolverine could be disappointed in her right now was if she lost control of herself and hurt this boy. This boy who looked so much like someone she had once killed for. She forced herself to do nothing, she could take it, she had taken worse things, and just continued eating her salad. When Laura didn't say anything Julian just laughed.

"Can you even talk, or did they forget to clone you a voice?" Laura closed her eyes at the boys words and took a deep breath, she would not hurt him, she had promised Wolverine she would not be a problem.

Kiden couldn't believe her eyes, Laura was just going to take it, sweet, quiet Laura was just going to sit there and let this pathetic boy spew acid at her. Fighting back may hurt more than help which was most likely why Laura was doing nothing; Kiden decided if they weren't going to fight then they were going to flee and grabbed her sandwich and Laura's arm, pulling the two of them away from the table with the mean boy. They wouldn't be sitting there again if Kiden could help it. As Kiden pulled Laura away she heard Cessily yelling at the boy, but turning to look over her shoulder, she saw that at most he just looked confused.

"Why did you let that jerk off dig into you like that?" Kiden asked softly once they were in the hallway. She looked around but saw no one, leaning against the wall she lowered herself to the floor and ripped the rest of her sandwich in half, offering a piece to Laura who hadn't brought what was left of her salad. Laura took the bit of food and sat against the wall next to the other girl.

"I have been here before." Laura said, not acknowledging the question, but Kiden took her answer anyway, it's not every day Laura talks about her past. "When I was here before I stayed in the teachers wing, and it was before I knew that I was," Laura paused, searching for the right word. "Allowed, to speak to people. No one knew my name, and Wolverine didn't acknowledge that he knew me at all."

"Why wouldn't you be allowed to speak to people?" Kiden couldn't wrap her brain around the mystery that was Laura. Sometimes she was so sweet and considerate, and others, she was blank faced and killing a man. Kiden vividly remembers Zebra Daddy and his group of goons, Laura had ripped through them like it had been nothing.

"The place where I was made it," Laura closed her eyes and ducked her face away from Kiden's view before continuing. "It was not a good place." Kiden swallowed the giant bite of sandwich she had shoved in her mouth before taking a big breath, she had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach and she didn't know why. Somehow she just knew Laura had been hurt there, Laura could put up with a lot and was mostly content about things that would send others running, for her to say it was a not a good place meant that it was a terrible horrible place that Kiden should be scared of it, and suddenly she was.

"But your mother, surely she wouldn't have let anything really bad happen to you." Kiden needed to know that someone had protected her, that in the midst of all the horrific things, someone had been on Laura's side.

"My mother was a scientist first; she did not expect to care about me." Kiden blinked, her mother had not expected to care, she was a scientist first. Kiden had no idea what that meant, it did not compute in her brain, but the look on Laura's face said more than that simple sentence had meant to. Kiden wanted to throw up, in just a few words Kiden had an idea of what it had been like to grow up as Laura, it made her sick. Then Cessily was there, looking down at them, and Kiden knew she wouldn't get anything else out of Laura now, She didn't even know if she wanted to

"Hey you guys, I'm really sorry about Julian, he can be a real ass to people who he doesn't think belong here. Before he came here he went to a really prestigious prep school and it was really competitive, he hasn't quiet gotten out of that mindset." Not that she would excuse his behavior but Cessily knew there was a reason for everything and sat down across the hall from them. She took in Kiden's wet looking eyes and Laura's blank emotionless face and Cessily knew she had interrupted something heavy, but there was nothing she could do about it now. "If it counts for anything Laura, I think if what Wolverine said was true then you must be amazing and I really look forward to teaming up with you." She had said it softly, kindly, like the silver girl could see how Laura was fragile through her emotionless façade and the walls she had erected around herself and wanted to prove to her that not all of them where Julian, some people genuinely cared about others. But Laura remained silent and finished off the rest of Kiden's sandwich.

"Thanks Cess." Kiden wasn't sure what else to say for a moment, but them remembered the class schedules that Mr. McCoy had giving them before dinner. "Do you think you could show us where our classes are gonna be for tomorrow? I don't really like the idea of being lost in this place."

"Sure, no problem." Cessily smiled again, glad that things hadn't gone too awkwardly. The girls stood up and after handing Cessily their lists, headed off to the wing of the school that held the class rooms.

* * *

Laura had been sleeping soundly for a few hour before it started, the moan of a voice that couldn't be there as it called out her name and woke Laura instantly; though Laura wished it to be a dream, hoped that she was only having a nightmare. The door to her new room was open and letting light from the hallway stream in. The voice that couldn't be there called to her again and Laura got out of her too soft bed, clad in only her black tank top and black underwear, she made her way slowly into the light of the hallway.

"Why?" It called out, Laura couldn't not go to the voice, it was as if she had no control of her body. "It hurts so much." Laura gasped as she walked into the light.

"M-Mother?" Laura couldn't believe her eyes, her mother was in front of her just as she had been as she had died, she wore the same clothes wore her hair the same and the smell to her, the mix of chemicals of paper and ink was filling the room, and the smell of blood as it rushed from the wounds in her mother's chest. The ones she had made. It didn't make any sense to her logical brain, but she wasn't being logical right now, her mother was in front of her dying, again.

"Why did you kill me?" Laura just dropped to her knees, unable to form any kind of response other than a stutter of pained nonsense. "I loved you, but you killed me." Her mother was looming over her now and Laura had to crane her head back to look into the green eyes of her mother, the same green eyes that she saw everyday when she looked in the mirror. Tears were running down Laura's face as she tried to form some kind of response, to explain herself, but was unable to. "Why X-23?" at that Laura got to her feet and focused her mind sniffling loudly, then the image of her mother was gone.

"My mother gave me a name. She would not call me X-23."

Kiden had been unable to fall asleep and was just lounging in bed when she heard the sound of crying coming from the hallway. She had debated with herself about going and checking on whoever it was, but then Laura was speaking and Kiden was out of bed in a second, knowing it had been her all along. Then another voice was coming from beyond her door, it was the headmistress, Emma Frost, who seemed to have something against Laura. She pressed her ear against the wood of the door, wanting to comfort Laura, but wanting to know what was being said, maybe Frost had just stumbled upon the crying girl.

"Well she can't call you anything now, can she?" Maybe not though.

"Why are you doing this?" Laura asked thickly, as if still crying. Kiden wanted to go to her immediately, but was now stuck to the spot, unable to interfere and unable to turn away.

"You know exactly why I'm doing this, because you are a weapon. A cold blooded killing machine who knows nothing but death and murder. You're a threat to every life within this school, but that's about to change. Because one way or another, you are leaving." Then there was quiet footsteps walking away and the sound of a low thump and Kiden was out of her room.

Laura was on the floor crying into her hands. Kiden was beside her in an instant, pulling the girl into her arms and holding her close. Laura responded instantly and wrapped her arms around Kiden's slightly smaller frame, burying her head in the other girls shoulder and crying into her hair.

"I killed her, I killed my own mother." Laura was saying it over and over again, and Kiden didn't know what to say at first, then she remembered what Laura had said before, the place she had grown up had not been a good place, her mother hadn't even expected to have cared about her. There was far more to this than just what Laura was confessing to. Then Kiden somehow immediately knew what to do.

"Shhh, I'm here, I'll always be on your side, I'll always be here for you. I've got you Laura, I've got you" Kiden held the girl tighter and slowly ran a hand through the girl's soft black hair, remembering how her mother had comforted her before everything had happened. "I'll always be here for you, I've got you." And Kiden knew she would always be there, the girl in her arms was more broken than even she had guessed, a needed her, needed the stability that she offered. More than that, Kiden needed to be there for her, and couldn't see herself anywhere else.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry for the shorter chapter, originally this chapter had a lot more to it but I cut it down to two different chapters after having some issues getting Laura to talk. She doesn't seem to want to do what I want her to do, and that means rewriting until we figure out the problem.**

Getting Laura to bed was easier than Kiden had thought it would be. The shaking girl put up no fight as Kiden lead her back into her room where Sooraya was sitting up in bed looking confused from Laura's empty bed to the door where the girls had just entered.

"She had a nightmare and I was awake, I'm just going to get her in bed and stay with her awhile." The blonde whispered as she led Laura past where Sooraya was sitting. Sooraya softened immediately and smiled at the two of them before laying back down and turning on her side away from Laura's bed, giving the two the illusion of privacy. Once Laura was in bed, Kiden followed behind her and held the still crying girl, hugging her gently, just enough so she knew the other girl was there, and not enough to be jailing.

"I don't deserve for you to comfort me, I don't deserve any kind of comfort." Laura's voice was dead, emotionless, and it scared Kiden a little that Laura was so good at cutting herself off from her feelings. "Frost was right, I'm a weapon, a killing machine, and I can never be anything different. You should leave before you get hurt too."

"I'm not leaving Laura. Frost was wrong." Kiden held the other girl a little tighter before continuing. She hadn't really thought much about all that Frost had said, about Laura being a weapon, and cold blooded killing machine who had killed her own mother; all she had seen was the crying broken girl on the floor. Now that Laura was in her arms again, and they were out of the open with on Sooraya trying not to listen in on them, Kiden could think about it, what had Frost meant, more importantly what had Laura meant. But Kiden pushed her doubts out of her head, Laura was still shaking, still crying though she was trying not to show it, she needed her more than Kiden needed to be afraid. "You aren't just a weapon Laura, and you certainly aren't some monster. Don't you remember back in New York, when you spent 2 hours playing blocks with lil' bro, or when that bird got into the apartment and you saved it before Bobby could hit it with that old tennis racket. Some Machine wouldn't have done those things."

"But, but before I meet you." Laura paused for a second and Kiden felt the girl tense in her arms, Laura was laying facing the wall with Kiden behind her with her arms around her, Kiden just lay her head on Laura's shoulder and waited for the girl to find her words. Kiden knew that sometimes it was difficult for the other girl to express herself, and she was willing to be patient, Laura was worth it. "Before I meet you, I did horrible things. You don't know what they made me do."

"Stop, you don't have to tell me anything Laura, you never have to explain yourself to me. And think about what you just said, what they made you do, being forced to do something and choosing to do it are different things. That's way different than doing something because you wanted to, or just because you thought it'd be fun. You aren't a bad person Laura, you've just had some bad experiences." Again Kiden filed away what Laura had said. She had been with people who had made her do horrible things just to get by, Kiden was so curious, but more than that she was scared, scared for Laura, and the memories that she had to live with. She almost didn't want to know anymore. "Just go to sleep, I'll stay with you, I'll protect you."

Laura didn't say anything, she had never had anyone say that to her before, no one had ever offered to protect her before. And she trusted Kiden so wholeheartedly, she knew that the other girl would protect her, that she wouldn't have to worry about having a nightmare alone or getting out of bed and attacking someone without Kiden waking her up. No one would be able to sneak up on her with Kiden there. And Laura slept better in Kiden's arms then she had ever slept before in her life.

* * *

The sun was shining in Kiden's eyes when she woke up, at some point in the night Laura had shifted and was now laying on her back and so Kiden was resting her head on the other girls shoulder and had an arm slung across her stomach. Looking up into the other girls face Kiden smiled, she had never seen Laura's face so relaxed, there was no scowl, no frown, and not the forced emotionless of the face the girl usually wore. Then Kiden remembered what had happened the night before and sighed as she sat up.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake." Sooraya was up and adjusting the face part of her burqua. "Breakfast will start soon and classes start in an hour. You should wake up Laura and get ready for the day. I will see you later." Sooraya then grabbed her bag and made her way out of the room.

"Thanks Sooraya." Kiden called out before the door had closed, the other girl just nodded and then there was the click of the door closing. Looking back down at the raven haired girl she smiled and nudged her shoulder, Laura's green eyes shot open immediately. "Hey, Sooraya just left to go down to breakfast and said classes start in an hour, so we should get down there but I didn't want to just leave you."

"Thank you." Laura said softly, looking up at the blonde girl, then away, and mashing her lips together as if searching for something else to say. Not wanting to put pressure on the other girl to add anything, Kiden pushed back the covers of the bed and swung her legs off so they hit the floor. Laura looked at the other girls back and found what she wanted to say. "Thank you for last night also, you didn't have to stay with me"

"It was no problem Laura; everyone needs a little comfort now and again." Kiden turned to look over her shoulder at the other girl, who was now sitting up and leaning against her headboard with her legs pulled up to her chest, she suddenly looked much smaller than she had ever looked before. "Do you want to talk about it?" When Laura shook her head, Kiden accepted it and moved to stand up but then Laura's hand was on her wrist, a silent plea for her to stay.

"If I give you something to read, will you swear not to let anyone else see it and to take care of it?" Laura's voice was so small and thick, Kiden turned and saw a tear make its way down Laura's face. She looked so vulnerable that Kiden wanted to have the girl in her arms again, but she knew that wasn't what Laura wanted right now.

"Of course, you can trust me Laura."

"After classes there will be a few papers under your pillow, when you are finished put them back and go down to dinner, they will be gone when you return." And then the emotion was gone from her face and Kiden had no idea what to expect from what she would find under her pillow come the time. "We should get ready and head down to breakfast." Laura got up without another word and began to rummage through her closet for something to wear.

"Right, I'll meet you in the hall in five and we can go down together." Laura just nodded, not looking at her, and Kiden left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: So I had issues with this chapter, it did not want to be written. I started like twice and had almost a page each time, but it just didn't feel right, so I had to start again. I think it turned out pretty ok on the third try though so enjoy and please tell me what you think, I love feedback.**

Laura was nervous, Kiden had just walked out of her room, she stood completely still for a whole 60 seconds and just caught her breath before getting dressed for the day. She didn't want to think about what would happen between them once the blonde girl knew what she was. Kiden would most likely never want to speak to her again. Once dressed, Laura went to close her closet door and couldn't help but see the duffel bag that lay in the bottom, pushed to the back and slightly hidden from view. She had done that on purpose of course, make the most precious thing you have look like nothing and no one will be interested.

Suddenly Laura was back in the facility, back in the small white room with nothing but herself. So bright and cold, so alone, she wanted to dig her claws in her skin, make it better. But a knock pulled her back into herself, back to Kiden who was now at the door. Back to the girl who had unknowingly come to her rescue again, gave comfort without trying, was what Laura needed, effortlessly.

The day went by relatively quickly, Laura answered questions when asked and kept quiet otherwise. She moved with the students in the hall, trying not to be in the way of anyone, not making waves was what Logan had said. She kept her eyes forward but her head down, just blending in, except for Kiden's near constant presence by her side, only their first classes didn't match up, but Kiden still managed to be by the darker girls side when the bell rang and they were making their way to second period.

Laura like that Kiden didn't ask questions, that she didn't make her talk if she couldn't find the words to explain something. Kiden was just a girl, a blonde haired blue eyes girl that was 3 inches shorter than Laura was, but she somehow managed to be so much more. She knew things before Laura had to say them, like where she would want to sit in the classroom, in the back near a window or a door and farthest away from any other student if possible. Laura couldn't figure out how the blonde knew that that was strategically the best place in the room, or if she just didn't like the other kids and wanted to look outside.

Kiden had been right to say that she was no good at chemistry, but Laura gently pushed her in the direction of the right answer whenever the other girl asked, and answered her questions when she asked, explaining it to the best of her ability. All the classes at Xavier's happened in the morning, then there was a lunch period, and after that different groups would have a danger room session with Logan for combat training. Laura was nervous to see Logan in an environment where there would be a lot of fighting. She knew she would be the best, and Wolverine would most likely want to show her off, but that would be making waves, if she understood the term correctly. Sometimes she just didn't understand the man.

"Hey kid." Laura had lead Kiden down to the danger room, where their combat training would happen and sure enough, after the girls had changed into workout clothes, Laura had to admit that Kiden had a very nice looking behind, that Logan had pulled her aside to speak with her. She could almost smell what was coming. "So I was wondering if you wanted to be my teaching assistant. I know you don't need any combat training, but you could really help me out with some of the more challenging kids. What do you say?"

Laura wanted to say no, wanted not to be singled out as the freak that could fight as well, or even better, than the Wolverine. But Logan was looking at her with eyes that wanted her to say yes, that meant Wolverine wasn't really asking her for something, he was giving out an order, and Laura had to follow orders.

"That would be fine."

"Good." Logan clapped her on the shoulder and turned to face the room, calling attention to the pair. Laura felt Kiden's questioning eyes on her and looked at her feet. "Alright, I know not all of you know Laura yet, but she's my clone and fights as well as me, so she's going to be my teaching assistant, you listen to her as if it were me. Got it?"

There was nodding all around and all eyes seemed to be on Laura now, she took a breath and looked out at them, some looked at her in disbelief, surly no one fought as well as The Wolverine, a few where smiling, Kiden's smile was small as if she felt how uncomfortable the other girl was, Cessily and Sooraya was smiling warmly at her trying to give her strength, and one Julian Keller looked beyond pissed, his whole body screamed that there was no way this girl was better than him, who did she think she was.

Logan showed the group a set of basic offensive forms with Laura demonstrating the defensive moves that corresponded with them. The two weapons moved slowly, as Wolverine narrated what they were doing and why. Punch out, pull back and block, kick out, match the movement for the parry. It was childish, and Laura had learned it when she was only 5 years old. Looking Wolverine in the eye, Laura made her irritation known to him. These kids did have to learn the basics, but any real fighter would rip through them in a second, Laura wanted to show them how it was really done. Logan smirked at the girl and nodded, big enough for the students to see. He wanted to make sure he really had their attention.

It was decided without saying anything that there would be no claws, that could change eventually, but for now it would just be fists and feet. Logan almost didn't move away from the first kick in time, but Laura moved to kick out from him and did a back flip to gain space from the old man. But then Logan charged when she was still in the air, nearly hitting her, but Laura manipulated her body in the air landing on her hands, and pushing off the floor again, she hit the wolverine with the weight of her body. He didn't go down though.

The students looked in awe as their combat teacher, and resident X-Man battled with a girl as old as they were. Laura had a remarkably different style than Logan had, she used her whole body and liked jumping and flipping through the air, Logan's power was mostly in his arms, and he didn't feel as comfortable throwing himself in the air as much as Laura did. The fight lasted for exactly five minutes, if anyone would have been counting. Of course they hadn't been. But the two stopped at the exact same time and bowed to each other, neither breathing the least bit hard, and neither had a scratch on them. Then they were back to demonstrating the forms Logan had wanted to teach today, and everyone broke into pairs to practice themselves. Logan clapped Laura on the shoulder again and went to help a kid that looked like he was struggling.

Cessily had taken pity on Kiden and volunteered to spar with her since Laura was basically the teacher, and Kiden waved the girl over to them. Laura just walked up as if nothing had happened; looking expectantly at the two, as if they had a question.

"Were did you learn to fight like that?" Cessily asked sounding like that was the best thing ever. But when Kiden saw a sudden darkness in the girl's eyes, she tried get Laura to show her the offensive moves again with Cessily. Kiden figured she would know soon where Laura had learned to fight like that, where she had learned a lot of things.

The class went by relatively quickly for Laura, she walked around and corrected stances, told them how they could get more power behind the hit if they moved this way, how they would get hurt less if they blocked one way instead of another. Laura was imparting knowledge on people, if felt like she was able to do something right for once.

* * *

Kiden stayed behind after the lesson, she wanted to speak to Wolverine alone about what had happened the night before.

"Can I help ya Blondie?" Wolverine was still picking up the mats and stacking them in the corner, but knew that girl wouldn't leave without getting whatever she needed to off her chest.

"Yeah, um I don't know if Laura told you already and I don't know if it's against the rules or not. But it totally should be if it's not but um, that one woman the headmistress lady who wears the corset. She did something to Laura last night." Logan dropped the mats he was moving and walked over to the girl with a deep frown.

"What did Frost do now?" Logan knew that she wanted his clone gone, but doing any type of anything to her was a bad idea. The girl could snap under the wrong word, and Frost knew that if she did she would have to leave.

"At first I just heard someone crying in the hallway, I was getting up to find out what was wrong when I heard Laura talking about her mother, how she gave her a name and she would never call her X-23. What is that?" Logan just looked at her as if to say just finish what you have to say. "So then there was Frosts voice saying that her mother couldn't call her anything anymore and that Laura was a killing machine who she would make leave no matter what. Then Frost left and I found Laura crying on the floor saying she had killed her mother, and in her sleep she said something about still being about to smell her. What does that mean?"

"Frost is a telepath; best guess is that she showed her, her dead mother." Logan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks for bringing this to me, I'll have a little talk with Frost and old one eye about it. And for the record if that did happen, it against a major rule." Wolverine patted the small blonde on the shoulder and moved to continue putting away the mats.

* * *

Kiden was in her room looking down at her bed, at her pillow. It looked undisturbed, but she knew Laura had been here. She was nervous about what was under the pillow; she almost didn't want to read whatever it was. But Laura had asked her to, if Laura couldn't explain about herself and whatever this was could, than she would read it. Taking a deep breath Kiden picked up her pillow.

There was a stack of papers with spots of what looked like blood, and upon picking up the papers she found that they were stiff but the edges were soft from being held far too many times. It was a letter. Sitting down, she held the papers lightly and began to read.

* * *

Kiden had to find Laura, had to see her, had to hold her._ Please forgive me, even as I write the words they wring so hollow. _She put the letter back under her pillow as Laura had asked her to do and burst from her room._ Of course I don't have to tell you about monsters. Your life is defined by monsters._ There where kids in the hall making their way down to dinner, Laura had asked her to go to dinner. Kiden couldn't think about food without wanting to vomit. _I told myself that you weren't real. I told myself this was science, not life. I was creating a weapon, not a child. I was wrong. _

Kiden pushed people out of the way in her mad attempt to find Laura as quickly as possible._ I always believed that everything that happened to me, I deserved. That we all get what we deserve. Maybe I was right. _Laura needed to know she had never deserved any of what had happened, that despite bad experiences she wasn't bad. _ I asked you for your forgiveness before. Now I'm telling you, don't forgive me. Don't forgive any of us for what we did. Ever._ How could a mother not know their daughter would need to forgive her, that Laura would have to forgive her to get over what she had been raised to be. _Your training was designed to strip you of your humanity. After all, in the eyes of the program, you weren't human, you were a weapon._

Laura had humanity, whatever training she had been given since she could walk hadn't worked, Kiden told herself again and again, Laura hadn't run, she just needed to find her. _We were never to treat you as a child, only as a weapon._ Kiden remembered having Laura tell her that her mother hadn't expected to love her, as she made it out side. Knowing Laura wouldn't want to be copped up somewhere, she would need to be in the open air, but also somewhere secluded. _So, Rice was given permission to take whatever steps necessary to activate your x-gene. He chose radiation poisoning. You nearly died that day._ Kiden wondered how many times Laura had almost died at the hands of her mother's bosses, but didn't allow her mind to really think about it. She just needed to find Laura. _I wanted to understand why we were doing this. I told martin I needed to understand why you had to publicly kill an innocent man, his family and so many others. So he told me, he said, 'it's simple, you can't sell anything without advertising.'_

Kiden knew that Laura knew how to kill a person, she had seen it, but what they had done was beyond wrong, beyond barbaric. _Martin sold you for a million dollars a pound, and as you know by now, there was no shortage of buyers._ Kiden didn't want to make the connection between Laura's street walker days and what she had read, she had been free when Kiden had met her, but she was still selling her services for money. Kiden turned around and pulled her hair, she had no idea where the girl could be. Something moving on the roof caught her eye. _While you were forced to kill, and kill, and kill, and kill. You killed royalty, Godfathers, Drug lords, Dictators, Assassins, anyone, everyone, for a price. For three long years, you murdered without fail._

Kiden went into time stop and ran towards the mansion again. She wouldn't let the other girl get away, wouldn't let her run. _For so long I held myself above Sutter and Rice. They made you a killer. They were the one using you. But all it took was one phone call to open my eyes and see, I was just like them._ Just when Kiden had thought it couldn't get worse, her own mother had forced Laura to kill someone. No amount of 'I'm sorry' would ever be enough to make it right. _Always remember you are not to blame. You didn't pick this life. We, I forced it upon you. The blood you have spilled is on my hands, not yours. _ How could Laura believe that, Kiden knew that she didn't, that Laura probably remembered every life she had been made to snuff out. It killed Kiden how much the other girl was holding in, Kiden would never have been able to deal with it.

_But one thing you must always remember, no matter what has happened, and no matter what may come. You are a child, not a weapon. You are my child, you are my daughter, and I love you. I will always love you, Laura. _Kiden made it to the roof and just looked at Laura for a minute. Taking her in, seeing her, knowing that she was right there and okay. Kiden ended the time stop and Laura instantly turned to face the other girl.

"I didn't think you would ever want to see me again. After you knew." Laura's voice was so small, and so sad. And Kiden rushed the girl; holding her firmly in her arms, not planning to ever let go again.

"Oh Laura, all it made me do was make me want to see you more." Then Laura's arms were around Kiden and the two just held each other, each crying silently in the others hair. Each wondering how it happened that they had found each other. Each wondering how the other managed to be, just so perfect.


	6. Chapter 6

"I remember everything they ever did to me." Laura and Kiden were sitting on the roof, dangling their legs off the side of the building and just looking out of the trees as the sun set.

"Laura you don't have to do this."

"No. You should know, I want," Laura paused and mashed her lips together, this would be hard for her, but Kiden deserved to know who she was friends with. "I want you to know me."

Kiden simply nodded, she wanted to know Laura too, but mostly she couldn't stop the girl, who had been able to want so little in her life; she couldn't deny her if she tried.

"The room where I was kept, my cage, it was always so bright, the walls and floor where white tile, and there were no windows but the one on the door that the scientists used to look in on me. There was never anything in that room but me, no bed or blankets, not a carpet, just nothing." Kiden shuddered slightly, that had been Laura's room, now Kiden understood how Laura took nothing for granted, she had had nothing for so long, and thought one day it would all be taken from her again.

"I remember my mother used to come in sometimes and sit with me, read to me. When someone was watching she read me _The Art of War_, but when there was no one else around she read _Pinocchio_, of course I understand now why she chose it." Kiden reached out and grabbed Laura's hand, holding it tight, a little comfort went so far with the other girl, but too much and she would shut down, not able to process it. Kiden wanted to hold her again, but holding her hand would have to do.

"There was a woman at the facility that my mother left out of the letter, my handler." Kiden closed her eyes, and squeezed Laura's hand, offering strength. "Her name was Kimura; she had been designed just to combat me. She has indestructible skin, not even adimantium can pierce it. When I did something wrong, she punished me."

"You said has." Kiden thought that Laura had killed all the people in the facility.

"She survived. After I been on my own for awhile, I found my cousin and aunt. I had been there for less than a week when she found me again." Laura took a deep breath, then looked Kiden in the eyes. "The Facility restarted again, they are still out there and they will never give up looking for me." Kiden didn't know what to say to that, she just squeezed Laura's hand again and lay her head against the slightly taller girl's shoulder, the sun had gone down, but there was still enough light to turn the sky purple.

"Last night, I told you that I killed my mother." Kiden nodded against Laura's shoulder and closed her eyes. She just couldn't fathom what would have made Laura do it, even if the woman had been horrible, she was still her mother. "The facility developed this Trigger scent, whenever I smell it everything goes dark, and when I wake up," Laura's voice lowered and she was speaking at such a soft whisper, that if Kiden hadn't had her head on the other girls shoulder, she would have missed it. "When I wake up everyone is dead. After I made it out of the facility and saw my mother standing there everything blacked out. She had been exposed to the trigger scent and hadn't known it."

"Oh Laura." Kiden didn't know what to say, she felt something drip into her hair and knew that Laura was crying. Kiden lifted her head up and dropped the girls hand, before throwing her arms around Laura's shoulders and pulling the girl close to her, just holding her. Kiden felt her own tears roll down her face, but ignored them, Laura needed her.

* * *

"Don't mean to interrupt kid, but I need you to come with me." Wolverine had found the two girls still on the roof, laying down watching the stars while they held hands between them. Laura sat up immediately, her eyes wide; Logan read the look and put up his hands. "You aren't in trouble; your friend can come to if you want. This is just about what happened with you and Frost last night. Don't worry." Laura looked confused, and eyed Kiden while the two of them stood up.

"I told him about it after combat training today. Frost shouldn't have done that, and you should have told him anyway." Kiden just took Laura's hand again and the two of them followed after Logan as he lead them to Scott's office.

"Okay Laura, Logan told me what Kiden told him. We just need you to tell us what really happened, if what Kiden thought she heard was real." Scott was sitting behind his desk, with his hands folded on top of a small stack of paper. It wasn't that he didn't believe her, but most of what was incriminating to Emma was only a guess, and Scott needed real proof before he took it up with her. Logan was perched on the front corner with his arms crossed and the two girls sat in front of the desk, Kiden still holding Laura's hand, almost refusing to let it go.

"Frost invaded my mind last night, she pulled out the image of my mother as she died and made her say things to me, made her blame me for her death." That was all Laura planned on saying, she looked at Logan and made that known to him. He heaved a large sigh and turned to Scott.

"That's all you need right?" Cyclops was staring at Laura, of course the girl couldn't see his eyes, so she didn't really know that he was, but she felt his hard gaze on her. Then he looked down at his stack of papers, picking up a pen.

"Yes, that's all I need." He wrote something down them looked back up to Laura. "I'm so sorry she did this, I told her that you were not a danger, that you could stay here as long as you wanted and that she was not to interfere. If something like this happens again there will be serious consequences, but this was only a onetime thing, and I think it's best if we all try to move on."

"That's bull and you know it, Frost doesn't like me, and she don't like Laura. This isn't going to be the last time she tries to force something to happen. She just has your balls in a lock box somewhere and won't give them back."

"Logan!" Scott cut off Wolverine before he could say anymore. "Not in front of the children, if you want to continue this, then fine, but they don't need to see us fighting." Logan growled out a breath, but he didn't want Laura to see this either.

"I'll be right back. Come on you two." Logan lead the girls out of the office before putting both hands on Laura's shoulders and looking her square in the eye. "I'm going to have a few more words with Scott, and I'm going to be there when he confronts Frost about this. I don't want you to worry about her, understand?" Laura nodded to him, and Logan nodded back. "You should have been the one to bring this to me, if something like this ever happens again, don't be scared to bring it to me, I'm here for you Laura, let me be here for you." Logan held her eyes for a second before nodding again then turning to Kiden. "Good job, off you two go now, I don't want you hearing this." Logan pointed off down the way to the girl's wing, sending the two to bed. Laura led Kiden away and the two where halfway down the hall when Logan stopped watching them walk and went back into the office.

* * *

Kiden convinced Laura to go down to the kitchen with her instead of going to bed like Logan had suggested. They had both skipped dinner, and Kiden could tell the other girl was hungry, even if she hadn't said anything. Laura had found left over roast beef in the fridge and was putting together sandwiches while Kiden sliced up some watermelon she had found to put on the side; Kiden smiled at domesticity of it all.

"What are you losers doing down here?" Julian Keller was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed across his chest and a snug smirk on his face.

"We missed dinner, we were hungry." Kiden said holding the large knife slightly tighter in her hand, using the thing to scope up the pink squares and putting them in a bowl she had already set aside. Julian's smirk just seemed to get bigger, when he looked over to Laura, using one of her extended claws to slice the two ready sandwiches in half before putting both on a plate and carrying it over to were Kiden stood, placing it in front of her.

"You know, Frost told me some things about you, X-23." Laura froze at the name, Logan hadn't told anyone that name, and Kiden would never betray her, but Frost had been in her head, only seeing what she had wanted to see. Laura was suddenly scared of this boy who knew things about her, who could manipulate her with what he knew. "She told me that you were bred in a lab to kill people." Laura smelled rage on the boy, he wanted her to fight him, wanted to prove himself and maybe get her into trouble in the process; had most likely been sent by Frost to get a rise out of her.

"You have no idea what you're talking about Keller, so why don't you just walk away before you get yourself hurt." Kiden didn't know what this boys problem was, he was just such a douche bag to everyone, and she couldn't stand the way he looked at Laura.

"I have a pretty good idea actually, she's not just a clone, she's a killer, born and raised to kill for the pleasure of it. Like and animal." Julian sneered at the girls, expecting an attack from his prodding, but when Laura answered back it wasn't what he had expected.

"You want to leave this room." Laura was holding the counter top so hard her hands where white and Kiden saw that Laura was shaking slightly. Her voice had been low and hard, but rang clear through the room, Laura had a quiet anger to her, and if Julian was smart he would be scared.

"You think I'll afraid of you, animal."

"YOU WANT TO LEAVE THIS ROOM!" Laura had never cut anyone off in all the time Kiden had known her, had never raised her voice even when she was frustrated. Julian looked shocked, and took a staggering step back, as if from the force of Laura's yell. Then he was walking backwards out of the room, and when Kiden couldn't see him anymore, she heard his pace increase as he ran from them. Kiden looked back to Laura who seemed frozen.

"Hey, hey come back to me." Kiden put her hands on either side of Laura's face and turned her to look back into her own, only Laura's eyes were closed, she had retreated back to that place with the all white room and her mother letting scientists abuse her. "Laura, you are not an animal, you hear me."

"But I am, I"

"NO, Laura you aren't, and you should never let anyone make you feel like less of a person." Laura was looking into Kiden's eyes now. Laura's forest greens meeting Kiden's sky blues, the dark haired girl looked conflicted, but reached out and griped the bottom of Kiden's shirt, fisting the material on her sides.

"How can you be so sure that I'm good, that I'm not just an animal?" Laura's voice was small, her eyes so sad. Kiden knew that she shouldn't, that this was not the time to be thinking like she was, but Kiden needed Laura to believe her, so she decided it was time to risk it.

"Because I could never feel this way for an animal Laura." Laura furrowed her brow deeper, but in confusion. Kiden gulped, then moved forward, gently putting her lips against Laura's. Just a brush of lips, barely there at all, but when Kiden pulled back, Laura's eyes were slightly wider.

"Oh."

**AN: Okay, not the longest chapter, but I couldn't resist ending it there. So I know that at least Kairan1979 was looking forward to seeing Emma Frost get torn another asshole, but this is in a school setting, and I don't think teachers would ever yell at teachers while students are present, and with Logan acting as the parent you know Frost was at least warned. (And while it was hinted that Frost sent Hellion to mess with them, I didn't write it with that purpose.) The big battle in the danger that forms the New X-men team is coming up soon, along with the girl's reactions to the kiss. Hope that you enjoyed it, and I would love to hear from you and hear what you have to say.**


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